<p>so my cousin got into USC,CalTech,berkely,UCLA, and yale, and also, haver mudd. I have never heard of Harvey Mudd, but he ended up going there over CalTech.
was this a dumb decision, or, is it a good university (HM). I have no knowledge on it, and thought I should learn first, instead of just going to him and asking him to reconsider. Its none of my business, but I'm curious.</p>
<p>First, it's WAY too late for your cousin to change where he's going. THe deadline was May 1st. Second, Mudd is a top-notch school whose competitors for applicants include Caltech, MIT, Stanford and Berkeley. Average incoming freshman SAT this year was 2270 -- 40% of the incoming class had an 800 on Math Level II. There are many good reasons why someone might turn down Caltech for Mudd, and I know of folks who have done just that.</p>
<p>You can find chats about Mudd vs. Caltech by going to Colleges/Top Liberal Arts Colleges/Harvey Mudd College. This is a thread that pops up frequently, and Mudd and Caltech citizens post frequently about the relative merits of each.</p>
<p>But to answer your question -- Mudd is a most excellent place. Highly, highly regarded, and very self-selecting.</p>
<p>anorexic....that was not a dumb decision...he knows what he's doing...that's perfectly sensible.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd is a better choice than Caltech. At Caltech, they don't teach you anything, you teach yourself. I would made the same choice, Harvey Mudd over Caltech.
One of the key technical people at CISCO and a founding member of Juniper Networks, who was also known as as Mr "IT", was a Harvey Mudd alumni. By his own reputation he was able to raise a lot of money(billion) for a startup.
When I was interviewed at QualCom back in the dark ages( before they went public), I also encountered a lot of Harvey Mudd people there, that's how I heard of its reputation, I learned then that Harvey Mudd is a very good engineering school.
A lot of people in California never heard of Harvey Mudd eventhough they go to school nearby like USC(my officemate for example), but that does not mean anything. The people that do the hiring are the people that should know and that's the kind of people that counts.</p>
<p>"I have never heard of Harvey Mudd, but he ended up going there over CalTech."</p>
<p>This may be the case, but thousands of employers out there HAVE heard of Mudd, because it's right up there.</p>
<p>
Yes, clearly the Caltech model of education has had no success in the past.</p>
<p>There's something to be said of a school that teaches its students to be scientists by having them learn like scientists, understanding that there will not always be a 'higher authority' who has the 'right' answer to a given problem.</p>
<p>Yep, being self sufficient is looked down upon nowadays.</p>
<p>What I mean is that the people at Caltech are naturally smart, don't expect any handholding. Years ago, I worked with a lot of bosses that graduated from Caltech and that is what they told me. These people were Department Chair at some universities.</p>
<p>My son may well be faced with that question next year, and he will choose Caltech. I would sort of like him to choose HMC. </p>
<p>HMC is part of the Claremont Consortium of schools that also include Pomona, Scripps, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and a couple of others. So, you have the advantage of being in a techie environment, but part of a more diverse educational community. HMC is a great education, but a step down in intensity from Caltech. I think that is healthy! </p>
<p>BTW, for kids with great tests scores and GPAs they give a four year renewable 10K scholarship. </p>
<p>I think your cousin is fine. He also made a decision based less on some perverse idea of prestige, and more on what suits him best.</p>
<p>^^^: I think Olin provides a similar environment in MA and gives you free education with no string attached.</p>
<p>POIH,
Olin is not quite free -- tuition is free, but one must still pay for room & board, etc. Olin was based largely on the Harvey Mudd model, however, and the former head of the math dept. at Mudd left to become Dean of Faculty (I believe) at Olin.</p>
<p>Mudd has a stellar record of getting students into top grad schools and into NSF fellowships. Because of its small size it's not a household name, but it is highly regarded among top grad schools. I saw a link here in the past day or so that mentioned comments from profs at Cornell and Princeton raving about hte quality of the Mudd students. I will try to find it -- I thought I'd bookmarked it.</p>
<p>If I was an highly gregarious engineering type (I am the first adjective, but not the second), I would pick a school like HMC, Stanford, or Berkeley over CalTech.
The CalTech students put up no fronts, and admit outright that the workload of their school seemingly disregards the value of sleep or a social life or anything that is not purely academic in the math & science realm. This, of course, helps create a group of highly focused, brilliant math scholars and engineers, but it's not for everyone...</p>
<p>"Olin is not quite free -- tuition is free, but one must still pay for room & board, etc"</p>
<p>That you have to pay everywhere including the public universities. Tuition costs are the major cost of attending any private institute.</p>
<p>So if you need to giveup Caltech do it for Olin.</p>
<p>POIH,</p>
<p>Olin is solely an engineering school (i.e. no math or science), so it's not really comparable to either Caltech or Harvey Mudd (except for those students who are wholly committed to engineering).</p>
<p>Mudd and Caltech, at least, offer pretty similar options for courses of study.</p>
<p>
That's obviously an exaggeration - either on your part or on "The Caltech students" part. That said, Caltech is definitely a school that one should visit and consider carefully before matriculating. For many, though, both the academic and non-academic environments are unique and perfect fits.</p>
<p>Cghen makes a good point about Olin being an engineering school. This was a deal-breaker for my son, who wants math and CS, but is not of an engineering mindset, and is not willing to do an off-campus major at one of Olin's consortium schools. </p>
<p>POIH, a "full ride" as defined on CC is tuition, room & board (and in some cases, a stipend and laptop allowance). R&B is still on the order of $16-18K, which if someone is looking for full merit rides, is relevant. I would suspect that those kids have need above the full tuition scholarship are going to get loan-heavy packages, which for some, may be a deal-breaker. </p>
<p>This is why I clarified that Olin students do have to pay R&B -- but oh, what great dorms and food!!! I think it's a terrific place, and I sighed deeply when it didn't make DS's list, but like Mudd and Caltech, it is geared to a rather self-selecting group of people, and I understand why he felt it wouldn't work for him.</p>
<p>I believe Caltech also offers a substantial amount of merit scholarships via the Axline or Presidential Awards. I think around 50 students qualify for these scholarships, which is an impressive number given the small entering freshman class.</p>
<p>OP,
If you're still around and haven't found this one yet, here is another Caltech/Mudd debate link:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=363655%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=363655</a></p>
<p>
There</a> have been much more in depth (and less one-sided - I don't think anyone from Caltech actually posted in that thread) threads than that one in the past. If I get time later, I'll dig up a couple.</p>
<p>Ya that was more like Mudder's on defense. </p>
<p>Truth is that there are perfectly reasonable reasons one would pick Mudd over Caltech. They just offer two modes of incredibly rigorous coursework, each of which will benefit different people in different ways. I personally would have chosen Mudd over Caltech had I applied to Caltech and go accepted (finaid could have swayed me perhaps though) because I believe they would have given me an education equal (if not greater) to Caltech, with a much larger access to females. (42% @ Mudd, 60+% at Claremont)</p>
<p>I think I fell completely in love while watching these videos at the Case dorms during Pre-Frosh weekend, if the teacher presentations had not completely swayed me:
1. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBFsr5cdMms%5B/url%5D">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBFsr5cdMms</a>
2. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KIsKJc5-Mw%5B/url%5D">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KIsKJc5-Mw</a>
3. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG3YRLEIshs%5B/url%5D">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG3YRLEIshs</a>
4. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqLIcPXUUwA%5B/url%5D">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqLIcPXUUwA</a>
5. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3siYq8N4YNo%5B/url%5D">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3siYq8N4YNo</a>
6. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNSeVFbmzMY%5B/url%5D">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNSeVFbmzMY</a>
7. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QGGo5mIoJQ%5B/url%5D">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QGGo5mIoJQ</a></p>